The Los Angeles Clippers will face the Brooklyn Nets tonight at Doc Rivers, the Clips coach continues his east coast reunion with his ex-Boston Celtic players, Keven Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry.
The game will be live streamed online at 8:00 PM ET from the Barclay's Center on TNT.
Pierce and Garnett were the leading scorers for Rivers on the 2007-08 Celtics team that captured the NBA title.
This stretch of reunions for this trio began Tuesday for Garnett and Pierce with a 104-96 home victory over Boston in their first game against the Celtics.
"Because Doc ain't over there, it's probably a little less emotional," Garnett said.
That means it will probably be more emotional for him Thursday when Rivers comes to the borough one night after the coach guided Los Angeles (15-8) to a 96-88 road win over the Celtics. Returning to Boston clearly meant a lot to Rivers.
"It was just a really nice day," said Rivers, choking back tears in his postgame news conference. "This is, it's just such a classy place here. ... They cheer for their teams and they love their athletes. The best decision I ever made was 10 years ago, when I decided to come."
First-year Nets coach Jason Kidd will have all of his players healthy since point guard Deron Williams returned Tuesday with 25 points after he had missed nine straight games and 11 overall with a sprained left ankle.
"He's the head of the snake," said Pierce, who also came back Tuesday from a four-game absence due to a broken hand. "I mean he's one of the most important pieces of what we're trying to do here, what we're trying to build and trying to win a championship."
Williams' presence figures to be critical as he renews his point guard rivalry with Chris Paul, who had 12 points and 13 assists against Brooklyn last month.
Williams was selected third overall in the 2005 draft and Paul was picked fourth. Williams' teams hold a 14-5 edge in their previous matchups.
Their numbers are fairly even in those contests. Williams is averaging 16.7 points and 8.5 assists, and Paul is averaging 16.4 and 9.2.
Another key matchup will be inside with Lopez going up against Blake Griffin. Lopez is averaging 23.0 points and Griffin 14.8 in four previous meetings, with the Nets winning three of them.
Brooklyn has won consecutive games for the first time thanks to some defensive improvement. The Nets have allowed opponents to shoot 42.5 percent in these contests after that figure was at 46.3 percent through 19 games.
